West Versus East (Win)

Can anybody tell me what the first significant instance of an individual competitor from the WEST beating a competitor from the traditional home of the art (i.e. Japan or China),EAST, in an international fighting competition might be?

It should be either karate, judo, jui-jitsu or the similar, and should be of Western (European or American (creed/race not an issue)) origin. Is there any such stand-out victory which marks the coming of age of western fighters?

One of the biggest upsets in my memory was when Steve Arneil coached the British WUKO team that beat the Japanese to become world champions in 1975. (EDIT: Just noticed your link)

But why not? I personally think race has nothing to do with it, only effort and the quality of ones training / coaching. When I trained in Japan I'd say there were more students in the dojo willing to give 100%, but they weren't any stronger as individuals than the top British fighters that also gave 100%.

Anton Geesink (Netherlands) would also be an obvious one. He was the first non-Japanese judoka to win the World Championships in 1961.

He also won the open weight gold medal in the 1964 Olympics; which was the first time judo was included in the Olympics as an official sport. The 1964 Olympics were held in Japan too – and Japanese players won all other categories – so you can imagine what an upset this was.